William bought a new pair of shorts at the store when they were having a $55\%$ off sale. If the regular price of the pair of shorts was $$22$, how much did William pay with the discount?
Solution: First, find the amount of the discount by multiplying the original price of the of the item by the discount. $$22$ $\times$ $55\%$ $=$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $55\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{55}{100}$ which is also equal to $55 \div 100$ $55 \div 100 = 0.55$ Multiply the discount you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of money saved. $0.55$ $\times$ $$22$ $ = $ $$12.10$ Subtract the discount you just found from the original price to get the final price William paid. $$22$ $-$ $$12.10$ $ = $ $$9.90$ William paid $$9.90$ for the pair of shorts.